


Sacrifice

by CWMaddy



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Character Study-ish, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e017 Flashback, Gen, More characters will be added probably - Freeform, poor Hartley, timeline change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 08:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6509902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CWMaddy/pseuds/CWMaddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This wasn't the Barry that he knew: the one that he grew close to, the one who broke down the walls that Hartley built to keep people from getting to truly know him. This Barry was different. But he didn't know why.</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>In which Barry returns from going back in time, and doesn't realize what Hartley means to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

It started when Barry didn't take his offered hand. 

Hartley didn't give it a second thought (not at first); he had just played it off as Barry being exhausted. He _had_ just barely escaped death by Time Wraith, after all. He didn't dwell on it, he let himself get distracted by Caitlin and Cisco. 

He didn't notice it when he texted Barry later that night either, after a surprisingly civil dinner with his parents (although there was an air of tension present). He sent Barry a text that read: 

**Dinner went O.K. No screaming matches this time.**

He didn't receive a reply. But Hartley shrugged it off. Barry must've turned in early due to the long day he had. 

The excuses got old, though. Hartley had to notice at some point that things were different. He wouldn't claim that something was wrong, per se, but he knew that something was off with Barry. He stopped showing up at the movie nights with the rest of the team, he ignored Hartley's presence whenever he would stop by at the labs. He even went as far as blocking Hartley's number from his phone (Hartley knew that because when he called, the phone only rang a single time before going to voicemail).

About a week and a half after Barry returned from going back in time, Hartley entered the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs and sat on Cisco's desk. Cisco had called him the night before, saying that he wanted to run some ideas by Hartley about improving Barry's suit. No one was there yet, but Hartley could be patient. Barry got there about half an hour later, and his reaction to seeing Hartley was much different from the usual greeting. Hartley smiled at his friend, but the gesture was not returned. Instead, Barry's face contorted in anger. In a time faster than Hartley could say a simple 'hello', Barry had him pinned to the wall, as if Hartley was the enemy. 

"Why do you keep showing up here?" Barry snarled, tightly gripping Hartley's jacket collar. 

This initially shocked Hartley, he hadn't seen Barry this hostile towards him since the first time they met each other. He came to his senses, though, and pried Barry's fingers off of his person before stepping to the side carefully. 

"Cisco asked me to stop by and help him with improvements on your suit. What's up with you, today?" Hartley questioned, attempting to shrug off the previous affair, but not succeeding.

"I highly doubt that Cisco wanted to see you." Barry scoffed. "Listen, thanks for helping us out with the Time Wraith situation, but you can go now. Continue on with your life, stop bothering us."

Hartley's face remained stoic, but he suddenly felt very cold. He crossed his arms and cocked a brow, going for the _Your presence lowers my IQ _façade that he adopted when feeling challenged. "Why does my presence all of a sudden repulse you?"__

__"All of a sudden? Hartley, I can't stand you!" Barry exclaimed, as if it were obvious._ _

__"Then sit down!" Hartley retorted, pulling out a rolling chair from the desk and pushing it toward Barry. He didn't know what was making Barry so angry today, but he wasn't going to willingly be on the receiving end. Barry sidestepped the chair; letting it collide with the wall._ _

__Barry rolled his eyes, fists clenching in irritation. "Get out, Hartley. Nobody wants you here." His voice was shaking slightly, as if he was barely remaining calm. Sometimes Barry would joke about kicking Hartley out, but there was no humor in his words this time._ _

__Hartley looked at Barry with a death stare, because he wasn't going to show this stranger how upset this encounter had actually made him. This wasn't the Barry that he knew: the one that he grew close to, the one who broke down the walls that Hartley built to keep people from getting to truly know him. This Barry was different. But he didn't know why. However, Hartley was smart. And he realized in that moment that Barry didn't remember the same timeline as everyone else did._ _

__He didn't remember all of the projects they worked on together, or the movie nights they all had with the rest of Team Flash. Barry didn't know that he had confided in Hartley about kissing Iris before the first time he traveled back in time, how he felt like he'd failed everyone by letting Jay get close, how he left that man on Earth 2 in Zoom's hands and was worried about not being able to save him if he couldn't reopen the breaches._ _

__Barry remembered a different version of Hartley, a cruel one who was nothing but bitter. The version he remembered was probably blinded by revenge. All of the inside jokes, the silly moments, the treasured memories....._ _

__Gone._ _

__Hartley turned to leave the cortex right as Cisco was walking in. He was smiling, but when he saw Hartley's face and Barry's tense posture, the expression faded quickly._ _

__"Hartley, where are you going? I thought we were gonna work on the suit!" Cisco called, watching in confusion at Hartley's retreating figure._ _

__Hartley continued down the hall, not looking back at his friends— his friend. "Taking a rain check, Ramon!" He dismissed in a clipped tone._ _

__He pushed open the door with more force than usual, letting it slam obnoxiously behind him. He felt kind of bad for reflecting his anger onto Cisco, but he forced it to the back of his mind._ _

__Barry wasn't going to be on board with getting to know Hartley, he seemed to be convinced that people don't change. Hartley remembered Barry being skeptical the first time Hartley was redeemed, when Hartley started helping Cisco and Caitlin find Ronnie. There was lots of distrust and fighting during that time, and it wasn't an experience that Hartley was eager to repeat._ _

__He knew, especially now after the Jay incident, that Barry would be closed off and more strict about trusting people. But he wasn't expecting to be caught in the crossfire, not again._ _

__Hartley wasn't a friend to Barry. Not this Barry. Hartley wasn't even considered a welcomed acquaintance. He was a nuisance, an enemy, gum on the bottom of Barry Allen's shoe. A villain. Barry came back, and Hartley lost his best friend. He lost one of the only people that had seen the real him._ _

__And now, more than ever before, Hartley felt alone._ _


End file.
